The Girl in the Garden

Prologue

The day of the explosion was one of the last frosty mornings of spring. Alice sat with her forehead leaning against the window, watching the scenery as it rocketed past. The new red branches of the shrubs that lined the road were encrusted with delicate layers of ice, which gave them the appearance of fiery gems in the glint of morning sunlight—a blaze of winter flames that roused the wrong kind of memories inside her.

A spark of a thought kindled in her brain, and she felt fire on her skin. Not now, she thought as she smoothed the goosebumps that spread over her forearms. It was second nature for her to suppress these lapses of control; they'd been happening for so long now.

"You okay?"

Alice turned to her husband. His eyes were intent on the road, but she knew he didn't need to look at her to understand she was uncomfortable.

"I, uh..." The feeling in her began to subside, and the fire was all but dead. "I just miss Ben."

"It's only been a weekend; I'm sure he's fine."

"A lot could happen in a weekend." Although the sparks were gone, Alice felt a twisting of dread in her stomach. "And I don't know if I trust that babysitting service."

"Yes, you do. You're just looking for something to worry about—you're always doing that when it comes to Ben."

Alice looked back out her window and sighed, the hot air of her breath spreading a pale white fog across the glass. "There are a lot of things out there that could hurt him. He needs us to worry; that's how we keep him safe."

"Well, he's growing up fast. In three years, he'll be driving."

"Not if I can help it."

"Then it's just two more years before he moves out."

"Two!" Alice grasped her chest as if he had just broken her heart. "Why are you kicking him out so young?"

"Sweetheart, you know he's gonna apply for schools as far away as possible. That kid is always itching for a bigger life than he has."

"Yeah, I know the feeling."

Her husband took his turn to put on a sarcastic show. "You mean our life together isn't enough for you?"

"You know what I mean!" She smiled and traced her eyes along the edge of his square jaw. She imagined what he might look like at sixty, and seventy, and eighty, and couldn't imagine a time when she would ever fail to appreciate his handsome good looks. "When I was his age I...."

She trailed off as the sparks started to fly inside her again. Remembering her life as a teenager filled her with sadness, anger, and an inferno of flames. Flames that still lived inside her even though she tried to deny them. Even now, just thinking about them was enough to feel her body temperature start to rise.

"You really do look like something's wrong, you know, looks like more than just Ben to me. Are you sick?"

Alice felt her breath become quick and stifled. The blood in her veins turned to bleach, burning away at her from the inside.

"I think..." she grabbed at her throat and flipped down the sun visor. In her reflection in the tiny mirror, she could see fire in her eyes. "You need to pull over. I need to get out."

"What? Why?"

She saw the flames lap out along her eyelashes and start to dance across her skin. Flames she knew her husband couldn't see. It wasn't real fire erupting from her eyes, not yet anyway. "Please! Just stop!"

The car pulled onto the shoulder of the road with a jolt, and Alice started struggling with her seatbelt. Her fingers fumbled, and she raged against the restraint. When her husband's hand came forward to help her, she slapped it away without thinking.

"Alice, honey, you're sweating and panicking."

She fought against the seatbelt, seeing that flames had engulfed her reflection, a sign of what was about to happen.

"I need to get out," was all she could say. When she undid the seatbelt, she threw it off her chest with such force it clattered against the window. She put her hands on the handle, and it sizzled under her touch. "I need to get out!"

As her husband unlocked the doors, he said something to her, but she couldn't hear him. All she could hear was the whistling of hot air streaming out through her ears and the recollected sounds of a blaze, of people screaming. She kicked open her door, and as she tried to climb free of the car, she felt it happen. A blast of heat from every pore of her body, so intense it ignited the air around her.

The explosion of flames filled the car in a fraction of a second. The force of the blast sent her flying into the frozen red branches. She heard people pulling their cars over and the screams of onlookers. Thick black smoke and confusion clouded her vision, and she tried to stand up, but her body wouldn't respond.

"Don't try to move!" She heard a man call out. He knelt and braced her head with his arms. She tried to get a better look, but it felt like her mind had detached from her body.

"Oh, honey!" She heard a woman call to the man beside her. "She really doesn't look okay!"

"Get the kids out of here!" The man shouted, "They don't need to see this."

Alice could summon enough strength to turn her eyes in their sockets. She glanced at the inferno that was her car, and the last thing she saw before the blackness took over was her husband's charred body, one hand still tight on the wheel.